Halo 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The game is the third title in the //Halo// franchise and concludes the story arc begun in Halo: Combat Evolved and continued in Halo 2. The game was released on September 25, 2007 in Australia, Brazil, India, New Zealand, North America, and Singapore; September 26, 2007 in Europe; and September 27, 2007 in Japan. Halo 3's story centers on the interstellar war between 26th century humanity and a collection of alien races known as the Covenant. The player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier, as he battles the Covenant. The game features vehicles, weapons, and gameplay not present in previous titles of the series, as well as the addition of saved gameplay films, file sharing, and the Forge map editor—a utility which allows the player to perform modifications to multiplayer levels.
Bungie began developing Halo 3 shortly after Halo 2 shipped. The game was officially announced at E3 2006.
On the day before its official release, 4.2 million units of Halo 3 were in retail outlets.[4[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_3#cite_note-gamespot-4.2mil_retail-3|]]] Halo 3 grossed US$300 million in its first week.[5[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_3#cite_note-sales-4|]]] More than one million people played Halo 3 on Xbox Live in the first twenty hours.[6[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_3#cite_note-1milxbox-5|]]] As of January 3, 2008, Halo 3 sold 8.1 million copies,[7[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_3#cite_note-2008-01-03_sales-6|]]] and was the best-selling video game of 2007 in the U.S.[8[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_3#cite_note-gamasutra-bestselling2007-7|]]] Overall, the game was very well received by critics, with the Forge and multiplayer offerings singled out as strong features. A prequel to the game, Halo 3: ODST, was released worldwide on September 22, 2009; a sequel, Halo 4, is in development.

external image Halo_3_final_boxshot.JPG